


Up From the Grave

by Barkour



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: Flash Fic, Gen, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-03-29
Updated: 2012-03-29
Packaged: 2017-11-02 16:18:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,194
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/370948
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Barkour/pseuds/Barkour
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Mako and Bolin were very young when the rest of their family died.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Up From the Grave

Dragon fever in the winter. Father died first, that week when the snows let up and the sun came out in spots. The room was dark and hot, cloths pulled over all the windows in the house, the shutters locked in place. To sweat the fever out.

Winter is a bad time for dragon fever, said the doctor. Mother said, There's no good time for it. The doctor said, Well. Mako listened at the stairs. He was supposed to be in bed, but Bolin kicked in his sleep and Baolan would not sleep at all but cried instead all night. (Colic, the doctor said.) Mako had crept out, light as a cat. No one would know. He was good at it.

His mother's shadow was long, a black line that bent as she bowed to the doctor. Her hair hung over her shoulder. It was a horse's tail. The doctor left medicine in a packet. A bitter, green powder, to dissolve in Father's tea, which he drank in the morning and again in the evening.

Hush, hush, Mother said to Baolan. Baolan cried and would not stop. Her face was red with it. 

Bolin said, Stop crying! Stop crying! and Mother said, She can't help it, Bolin, please--

Mako pulled at Bolin's hand. Bolin said, She won't stop crying. 

Mako said, She's sick. 

Bolin said, Like Dad?

The house was dark. Outside the sun had come from between the clouds. A little finger of light stuck under the door. 

Mako said, Wanna play a game? 

Bolin said, Yeah! 

Mako said, Go hide and I'll count. Bolin hid.

Baolan cried. Her throat was sore; she rasped like Father rasped upstairs in his bed. Mother rocked Baolan. Her eyes were closed. Baolan's eyes were open, and they were red, too, red like her face. Mother's hair swung over her shoulder back and forth. The house was dark.

Shh, shh, said Mother and her voice was rough, too. Shh. You're all right.

Mako lingered at the door. The sunlight was pale. The air was cold. His stomach hurt, his nose, his eyes. Somewhere up the street a woman sang, and somewhere else Bolin hid. Mako pulled his foot back in.

Can I take the tea to Dad? said Mako.

Mother said, It's on the table.

He took the tea upstairs. The door was closed, so he set the tray down to open it. Father was quiet. Mako thought: You're all right! and he left the tray at the door to run up to the bed and up to his father. He put his hand on his father's shoulder. His father's shoulder was still. The fever had gone out of him. The breath had gone out of him.

The weather turned colder yet. The snows came back. Men in black cloaks with cloths over their mouths took Father out of the house. Baolan cried; she had not stopped crying. She was too little to cry like that, all the time.

Mother said, You can't just take him; we must--his body--

Bolin clung to Mako's hand and said, Where are they taking dad? in a voice that went high at the end and then cracked. 

Mako said, They have to take him away.

The men in black cloaks said, It's for your safety and the safety of the rest of the city.

Bolin said, But why? and Mako said, Because they have to, and Bolin said, Why? Why? Why?

The fever. The fever.

Then they sealed the street. Guards on the ends. Towering walls of earth cutting them off from the city. 

Bolin said, Look how big they are! and laughed. 

Mother said, Let's go inside.

Then Baolan stopped crying. That was in the night. In the morning, Mother wrapped Baolan in a lace cloth and tucked her in a lacquered chest. Bolin said, You can't! She's little! She'll get scared! Mother covered her face and shook and shook.

Mako grabbed Bolin's arm and pulled him back. He said, She won't get scared.

Bolin said, But it's dark!

Mako said, She's dead.

Bolin said, But why?

He didn't know it. He was too little. Bolin thought dead was like sleeping, like hiding. You'd wake up, or someone would find you.

Mako said, She got sick.

Bolin said, Like Dad?

Mako said, Like Dad.

Snow. At night Bolin kicked and Mako let him. Mother's hands shook when she poured out her tea. There was a little bit of medicine left. Mako wanted to dump it into the fire. Mother coughed as she drank her tea, and her hand fluttered at her throat. The street was silent, thick with snow and death.

Mother died.

What could they do? There was no one left. Bolin cried and as he cried, he made a rasping sound in his throat. He said, Make her get up.

Mako said, I can't.

Bolin said, You can!

Mako said, I can't! I can't! She's dead!

And Bolin said, Why? Why?

Mako was crying, too. His eyes burned. His face burned. His chest burned. He didn't cough. He pushed his face into his arm and cried. That was all he could do.

Bolin coughed. Bolin cried, and Bolin coughed. Colic. Or dragon fever. A pinch of powder left in the little packet the doctor had given to mother in exchange for three coins. Tea leaves in the jar mother kept in the corner.

Mako woke Bolin from his restless sleep.

What? croaked Bolin. What?

Get up, said Mako. Put on your coat. He'd brought Bolin's coat up the stairs, and his winter shoes, and his scarf. Mako had all his on already.

Why? said Bolin.

Because it's snowing, said Mako.

It's always snowing, said Bolin.

Put your coat on, baby, said Mako.

They went outside. Bolin was coughing, red-faced, his nose wet. Mako held his hand tightly. Snow had gathered against the wall of earth on the far end. There were two houses near it, one of them short and the other one tall. Both had windows.

Can you climb? said Mako.

Yeah! said Bolin. Of course I can climb!

You can climb real good? said Mako.

I'm the best climber! said Bolin. I'm the best climber in the whole world!

The moon had hid behind the snow clouds. If there were guards on top of that wall, Mako couldn't see them. The street was dead. Bolin made a ragged sound as he breathed out.

Hey, said Mako, you wanna play a game?

I wanna sleep, said Bolin and Mako jerked hard on his hand.

You can't sleep, he said. You have to stay awake. We're gonna play a game.

I don't wanna play a game, said Bolin.

I bet I can climb better than you, said Mako.

No, you can't! said Bolin.

Bet I can, said Mako. He pointed through the snow and the silence and the stillness to the vast shadow of the wall rising over the tall house beside it and the short house beside that. I bet I can climb that wall and you can't.

I can climb it better than you, said Bolin.

Prove it, baby, said Mako.

They climbed the wall.


End file.
